RoW M030 install gone REALLY wrong?

[horizontally-opposed]

Front sat down nearly an inch (as it should) but the rear is either just as high as it was or even higher...by between 1/4 and 3/8 of an inch. :unsure:

Any ideas of what could cause this? I was working with a well-regarded pro shop today (I'll leave them nameless for obvious reasons) and they are as baffled as I am about it, having done several of these conversions.

We'll go back at it tomorrow, but I would surely appreciate any thoughts of things to look at. :help:

The rear looks like it needs to come down about an inch to even get back into the ballpark, and this with parts all supplied as a kit (new) from Gert — so the source is good, too.

Installed new upper strut mounts (superceded by a 997 part number) front and rear. Wondering if these could be indexed wrong or is there anything else you could install incorrectly that could make the rear end of a 986 sit so high...?

On my way over to the garage with a flashlight to check the spring colors in the rear....

Thanks!!!

pete

[horizontally-opposed]

I just checked the spring colors and came up with red/yellow up front (seemingly correct for RoW M030) and red/red in the rear (seemingly correct for RoW M030).

So the springs appear to be dead on for my car, a 1999 Boxster 2.5 manual.

Thoughts?

pete

[joee]

Rear struts have to sit properly on spacers at top. There are cut outs for brads that hold the struts together at the top. Hard to see this causing an inch difference in ride height.

[horizontally-opposed]

Spaces were correctly installed, indexed to the brads.

Car sat down a little in the rear over night (or back and forth to the shop, a short trip), but was still way too high in back.

After a little head-scratching this morning, we loosened the bolts at the lower control arms and hub carriers while the car was on the lift, then set it down on scales (for a little extra room to work with) and retightened them.

Bingo. We had tightened everything up with the car at full droop, which loaded up the bushings. Now the car is sitting just like a Euro M030 should.

Took it over to the alignment shop and it came right into specs.

Thanks for responding joee!

My first impressions are nothing ground-breaking. The handling is tauter and more secure/more "planted" (need to take the car for a real run to find out more) while the ride quality is a fine compromise, though definitely less compliant. Short/sharp bumps are definitely more noticeable and handled less well by the suspension, but high speed lumps (such as on the freeway) are actually better, with a little less "wallow," though it's not like the old setup was exactly "wallowy."

Frankly, I have driven PSS9 cars that ride better than this setup, but I like the fact I've stayed with factory parts and whatever wisdom Weissach gained in their extensive testing to arrive at this setup.

Overall, very pleased.

pete

Edited October 19, 2006 by horizontally-opposed

[Topless]

Insite has this same setup on his car and it sounds like he has been testing it and really dialing in susp/align for best performance. You might search his M030 post for ideas and save a few steps along the way to your own ideal setup.

[insite]

H-O -

what are your tire sizes?

[boxer-werke]

Seems Porsche supplied the thicker compensating plates (#3 - see attchmt) on the rear struts of US cars. Many of us have installed RoW M030 to find the front is lowered 20mm, but the rear doesn't quite achieve the advertised 10mm.

FWIW, the 3.0mm plates (rubber rings) are $3/pc from Sunset and are good idea to buy when installing RoW M030 suspension. Hopefully this helps a few folks avoid having the rear sit just a little higher than they would like.

Cheers

Roland